Spoonfed Hybrid
Hybernation Shock CD-EP
Farrago. frg-09.
by Keith McLachlan.
December 26, 1996.
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Ian Masters and Chris Trout are back with 25 minutes more of dreamy
soundscape and this time they are joined at least partly by Warren
Defever (of His Name is Alive). On display this time is a more
electronic collection than their fabulous self-titled debut album.
Five songs in all. Two are ambient, flowing models of studio wizardry,
and the rest are simple acoustic based songs charged with the
mysticism of both Ian and Chris's haunting vocals. I am not sure what
the status is of Spoonfed Hybrid at this point but this is a nice
treat to help you during your pondering of even more important issues
like how the Pale Saints foolishly could have believed they could go
on without Ian or why they had to make the liner notes to this ep so
infuriatingly difficult to decipher.
Sportique
Black Is A Very Popular Colour CD
Where It's At. WIACD001.
by Keith McLachlan.
October 28, 1999.
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It is nearing the Holiday season and I am sure most of us
are in a frantic search for that perfect karaoke record to
keep the party moving after you have just finished your 18th
eggnog and your desperately tired of watching reruns of
Ali/Foreman in Zaire on the Classic Sports network Christmas
Special. Well let it be known that I am calling Ron Popeil
even now, as I am typing this review, because this record is
kinda useless in any other context except for karaoke. Why?
Because of that irritating thing Gregory Webster calls
singing, yikes!!! He is very nearly as emotive as bent grass
turned dormant after the first frost on a frigid November
morning but not quite.
The music is not so bad, kinda 70s'ish but not in that Bad Company homage sort of way that Sloan has adopted and used to fall deep into the pooper, more like sports glam i'd say. Imagine Greggy decked out in baggy shorts but wearing plum nail polish and a pair of platform loafers. 'Black...' has some nice choruses hidden beneath Greg's howl but when the verse hits you can't help but feel a bit queasy. They have completed all of the right pre-requisites, although I haven't much use for the Razorcuts myself, and yet they ultimately fail the final exam and are sent back to their bedrooms, with their sour foppery in hand, searching for a new brand of inspiration.
Sportsguitar
Married, 3 Kids CD
Matador. Ole 243.
by Keith Mclachlan.
February 2, 1997.
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This is a Swiss duo, and while they don't really measure up with other
Swiss exports like Swatch, Nestle, Cheese, yada yada yada... they are
a likeable lot. The album longs to be the equivalent of a home tapers
manifest, only that it is recorded in a studio with (Gasp!) a real
producer. You know the usual signposts when reviewing records like
this: Guided By Voices, Chris Knox, Shrimper records. This record hits
most of those forks in the road. Actually, I hear a lot of Lou Barlow
solo action in these songs? Really this disc doesn't offer much new.
Still the voices are nice, the guitar is pretty simple, and the music
gently undisturbing, might be nice to listen to when your mom is over
visiting, I bet my mom would have loved "Chords." However if it is a
choice between a Rolex and this album as a sample of Swiss precision,
and you find it a difficult decision, let me assist you, go for the
former.
Spring
The Last Goodbye CD
March. Mar-055.
by Keith McLachlan.
December 4, 1998.
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Used to be they sounded a lot
like... hey! I used that line to start the last review! Of course it is
true Spring used to sound like the Sundays in my opinion and now they are
in the same aural zipcode only they seem to have instituted a few more
facets into their music or something.
Samples from Hal Hartley films, some other electronic samples, a strange man duetting on a couple of tracks, and a samba-like feel to some of the songs. They are French and most of the songs sound like they are sung in French I guess. It is nice. Lots of quiet acoustic guitar and tambourines and pleasant girly voice.
Aerostat and En La Arena Blanca are kinda slinky, Hysteria 67 has a Fat Tulips kind of atmosphere, That Jazz! is entirely lovely, spacey and sedate kinda like folk karaoke version of a Cocteau Twins' song or something. Nice music for making paper mache recreations of the lawn gnomes in your front yard or something.
the Squires Of The Subterrain
Pop In A CD CD
Rocket Racket. rr cd101.
by Keith McLachlan.
June 27, 1999.
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Hey put that new Apples in Stereo record down! You don't want it! No
you certainly do not, at least not until you have heard this record
first. Robert Schneider is a nice guy and all but his grasp of Brian
Wilsononics is not nearly as sophisticated as the Captain and Tenille
looking guy on the cover of this CD.
This record is filled with songs about surfing and girls and filled with all of these voices and filled with 19 songs which would all be number one hits were this a more perfect world than the one we reside in (err maybe 'Admiral Albert's Apparition' would only be top ten). It is a tribute record, essentially, and while I don't understand most tribute records as they usually consist of dreadful bands doing dreadful covers of brilliant songs by a brilliant band, this record is a tribute to a style rather than any particular band even though the Beach Boys are most easily recognizable in these grooves.
Christopher Zajkowski is a genius and a plagiarist and as long as he is both you should forgive him for the latter because he has appropriated the imagination of 1967 for himself and while he makes home-made music he has made a record so complex and beguiling that it will only make your super sunny summer even brighter which with the fact that the earth's magnetic field has been reduced 15% since 1600 means you should buy some stock in Solarcaine.
the Starlets
Surely Tomorrow You'll Feel Blue CD
Stereotone. stereo1.
by Keith Mclachlan.
March 28, 2002.
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Ever notice how there are no Esther's anymore, no
Mildreds or Eulas or Blanches either? These are old
fart names they have fallen from favour with the
terminally unaging baby-boomers and their successors
in my generation who all appear to be having kids with
more ease than I would ever imagine possible what with
me concerned about future mates deciding my income
level is up to snuff or my reading list having been
ideally compiled to prepare for a life of eternal
bliss. But maybe I don't need marriage, I have the
Starlets and their songs will likely warm my heart far
longer than any creature not walking on four legs.
They have a Biff in their ranks, not sure what this is
short for except as part of the ideal tandem of Biff
and Buffy to describe those odious sorts who listen to
Dave Matthews and wear Abercrombie and Fitch catalog
advertised apparel although funny enough you need to
be over 18 to get their catalog because a clothes
company decided the best way to sell its clothes was
not by having models model clothes but rather have
models be naked, brilliant. Anyhow, Biff is short for
nothing actually and according to a name report
website means the possessor has a highly charged and
dynamic state of being or something like that. Biff
Smith must be an aberration then, he is slow, pensive,
sensitive and flowery. There are nine songs here six
are gorgeous slowies, with trumpets and string
sections slowly picked guitars and words like these
'some things are so beautiful you have to turn away'
which sums up most of what is on display here. It is
not at all reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian even
though they are from Glasgow and fey, it has more than
a little to do with Paddy Mcaloon and the Go-Betweens
but without the Go-Betweens penchant for stinking to
high heavens. It's a brilliant debut album and
another peg to hang on the map showing the greatest
concentration of charming, emotive and literate pop
bands (see Marvellous Mechanical Mouse Organ, Ballboy,
Pearlfishers, Camera Obscura, etc...) to be fully
enveloped by the borders of my fair ancestral homeland
of Scotland.